The Arkansaw traveler., 1887-11-05
LEATHER FROM HUMAN SKIN.
Philadelphia News.

Philadelphia News
 remember that two or three years ago 1 incidentally referred to prom inent physician of this city wearing shoes made from the skin of negroes. He still adheres to that custom, insist ing that the tanned hide of an African makes the most enduring and the most pliable leather known to man.
 Only last week met him upon the street with brand new pair of shoes. 1 looked at his foot wear, as l always do-his pedal coverings have an ire sistible fascination for me-and said with a smile: ''Is the down. trodden African still beneath your feet?" In the most matter of fact-way, and without the shadow of a smile, he answered.; "I suppose you mean to inquire if still wear shoes made of the skin of the negro.
 ''l certainly do, and don't propose changing in that respect until find a leather that is softer and will last longer and present better appearance. l have no sentiment about this matter. Were a southerner-in the American sense of that word-I might be ac- cueed of being actuatcd by a race prejudice. But am foreigner by birth, although now an American cit izen by naturalization. fought in the rebellion that the blacks might be freed. would use white mans skin for the same purpose were it sufii- ciently thick, and if any one has de- sire to wear my epidermis upon his feet after l have drawn my last breath he has my ante-mortem permission" :"
 Tine doctors shoes always exhibit d peculiarly rich lustrousness in their blackness. He assures me that they never hurt his feet. The new pair he was using when last saw him emitted no creaking sound, and appeared as comfortable as though they had been worn month. Their predecessors. he told me, had been in constant use for eight months. He obtains the skin from the bodies of negroes which have been dissected in one of our big medical colleges. The best leather is obtained from the thighs. The soles are formed by placing several layers of leather together. The skin is pre- pared by tanner at Womelsdorf, six teen miles from Reading The shoes are fashioned by French shoemaker of this city, who knows nothing of the true character of the leather, but who often wonders at it's exquisite smoothness, and says that it excels the finest French calfskin.
 Do not for moment think that this doctor presents an exceptional case of one who puts the human skin to practical use. Medical students frequently display great variety of articles in which the skin or bones of some dissected mortal has been gruesomely utilized, and in bursts of generosity they sometimes present these to their friends. who prize them highly. One of the dudest dudes in town carries a match safe covered with portion of the skin of beautiful women who was found drowned in the Delaware river. It still retains it's natural color. An other young man with whom I am acquainted carries cigar case made of negro skin, a ghastly skull and cross bones appearing on one side in relief. One of the best known surgeons in this country, and who resides in this city, has beautiful instrument case entirely covered with leather made from an Africans skin. A young so- ciety lady of this city wears a beauti- ful pair of dark slippers, the remark able lustrousness of whose leather in- varibly excites the admiration of her friends when they see them. The young doctor who presented them to her recently returned from an ex- tended foreign tour, and he told her that he had purchased them from a Turk in Alexandria, and that he did not know what sort of leather they were made of, but he supposed it was the skin of some wild animal. As a matter of-fact, the skin came from a negro cadaver which once was prone on Jefferson College dissecting- table, and the leather was prepared in Womelsdorf. The rosettes on the slippers were dettly fashioned from the negro's kinky hair.